Congratulations to Nicole R. Derden '01 for being awarded the 2017 Idaho State Bar Service Award last month. Nicole is a private attorney who specializes in the field of immigration law, was awarded the Idaho. In addition to managing her law firm of nine employees, Derden Law, Chtd., she also is an adjunct professor of immigration law at Concordia School of Law in Boise, and the Vice-President of the Idaho chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Nicole’s success in immigration cases has clients seeking her out from all over the northwest. Nicole’s dedication to serving under-privileged women and children led her in May of 2016 to create and now manage a non-profit organization named PROJECT LAURA. LAURA stands for Latin American Unaccompanied Minor and Refugee Assistance. It is a non-profit legal entity in which attorneys, law students, and translators work together to assist Latin American refugee women and children who are fleeing their home countries due to uncontrolled violence. The non-profit uses local attorneys and law students, under the mentorship of Nicole and other immigration attorneys, to offer legal assistance to the unprecedented number of refugees re-locating to Boise as to their alien status in the U.S.
Nicole has practiced immigration law since graduating from the University of Idaho, College of Law in 2004 and Carroll College in 2001. She lives in Eagle, Idaho, is married to Terry R. Derden (Class of '02) and raises four sons (ages 11, 9, 5, and 3). In addition to being an inspiring working mom, Nicole is the embodiment of a community-minded attorney who lives a life of public service and is always willing to work on causes for women and children who have no other place to turn.
You can learn more about Project LAURA at its website and this article from Boise State.